Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Road Trip/ VA Beach GTG

Friday, after I got out of work I finished getting all packed up and after dropping off my son at my mother's, I started my hour drive down to Philadelphia to meet up with some friends I had made while planning my wedding on The Knot. There are a total of 18 girls and after our weddings we kept in touch. Back in the summer of last year one of the girls found out that she was expecting her first child and we decided that closer to her due date those who were able were going to take a weekend trip down to VA beach, where she lives for a get together (GTG). February couldn't come fast enough. I was super excited to meet some of the girls I talk to on a daily basis but had never met in real life (IRL) with the exception of one who happens to live an hour away from me and who I've had the pleasure of meeting twice :)

And so my awesome weekend began. Three of us were meeting up in Philly and two more were driving down from Connecticut and Massachusetts and were going to make a quick stop along the way to pick us (3) up. After a few wrong turns and an hour wait we finally met and started the drive to Maryland to meet up with 3 more girls and spend the night.

The drive to MD was longer then expected due to traffic caused by an accident. I ended up falling asleep because I had worked the night before and hadn't slept all day. Finally around 11:30ish pm we arrived. There the awesome girls had dinner waiting for us. On the menu they had salad, corn, rolls, and homemade crab cakes yum! After our late dinner we headed to our assigned homes for the night.

The next morning we all meet at the home were I had slept at and ate a delicious breakfast made by Amanda, the house owner. We got in our cars and again started the drive to Virginia. The drive was right under 4 hours and we made it by 11ish am. The baby shower started around 2pm and it was awesome! Brandi, the mommy-to-be, got great gifts from us all and from those girls who couldn't make it. We also got surprised by one of the girls who flew east from Arizona. That was such a sweet touch, I wasn't expecting it. I hoped it but wasn't expecting it at all. After a few games, laughs, food, pictures, and talks 8 of us headed down to the boardwalk to check in to our hotel. Later that night we went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and hen back to Brandi's for more pictures and some wine :)

The next morning we met for breakfast, which was delicious by the way, and then we said our goodbyes. It was a great weekend and although we spent the majority of it on the road it was better then I expected it to be. The ride back home was fun. We talked, stopped like 3 times for bathroom breaks and junk food snacks, and saw interesting things along the way. It took us about 5 hours to get to Chery Hill, NJ and by 7:15pm I was home.

I'm happy that the hubs was okay with me going away to spend the weekend with total strangers, sort of. It was a well needed time-away-from-home with just girls. Now I'm looking forward to next weekend's girls night with my home girls and my weekend getaway with the hubs in early March. In the meantime check out some of the pictures of this weekend taken by Brea, one of the MD girls.